Reviewing Athens

1. Favorite hotels.

Niki Hotel has to rank up there. It's not a complete Cheapo, but it's strikingly inexpensive considering its rates, location, and décor. It's simply a great deal, with very pleasing modern design in the rooms, a central location, and a lovely ground floor lounge. Niki is the sort of hotel you look forward to returning to for a little nap after lunch on a hot afternoon.

For sheer value, I have to plug Villa Olympia, which is amazingly cheap. It's located in Koukaki, about five minutes from the nearest metro station. It's completely barebones. There are no televisions in the rooms; neither are there private bathrooms. Carole, the proprietor, is very friendly, and she knows a ton about Athens.

Cecil Hotel is another fantastic hotel with surprisingly low rates. The owners are deservedly very proud of Cecil. It feels so wonderfully dated, as in Old World. Towels bear the insignia of the hotel, and rooms are cozy and warm. There's an inviting little lounge off to the side of the reception area, an ideal place for a nightcap.

I love how friendly hotel proprietors are in Athens. It really makes my job so much easier when hotel owners are proud of their properties and interested in extolling the virtues of their hotels. After previous experiences reviewing hotels in northern European cities, I was delighted by the default openness I found in Athens.

What surprised me about Athens, I have to admit, was how easy it was to navigate. The Greek alphabet had me worried. I've been in other places where an alphabet I'm not familiar with is used and such places can be very difficult to get around. In Athens, all street signs are in the Roman as well as the Greek alphabet. This makes getting around dramatically easier.

Additionally, Athens turned out to be very clean. I was expecting a much dirtier city. All the stories about Athens I remembered from my youth painted a picture of a city that was full of fumes and smog. The air quality appeared to be quite good during my visit.

I couldn't believe how friendly and direct Athens hotel proprietors were. I received more invitations to coffee or a cool drink than I could ever have hoped for. I guess this is more of a delightful story than a funny one! I did get mistaken for Greek many times, however, and that's another delightful thing I didn't expect.

This isn't necessarily the biggest secret, but I think that Koukaki is a great neighborhood. It's one metro stop (or a short walk) from the entrance to the Acropolis, and it's not much farther than that from Plaka and Monastiraki. Despite its proximity to the action, it's a quiet, leafy area with a wonderful pedestrian street, Drakou.

6. Favorite food.

My favorite meals in Athens were eaten standing up. A €2 gyro sandwich encased in pita bread, mmm. Greek yogurt, which we happily now have in New York City, was another daily staple. I can confirm the obvious: Fage yogurt is even more delicious in Athens than it is after it survives its transatlantic export journey.

My Athens trip had two purposes: to do research for EuroCheapo and to write about Eurovision for Jaunted. Eurovision, for those unfamiliar with it, is a Europe-wide song competition. Eurovision selections are extreme sugary pop, often perfect kitsch, the opposite of credible contemporary music. I had a press pass and enjoyed my experience there immensely. This was my third Eurovision, my second as a journalist on assignment.